> Hi,
I> 'm John Collin, Beginning series editor here at Wrox, and I'm hoping 
that 
y> ou are willing to let me know your views of our Beginning series in an 
o> ff-line discussion.
I> f you would, please drop a line to me at johnco@w...
T> hanks,
J> ohn
John,

I am a relative newcomer to web programming and have found 
the "Beginning" series of books from Wrox very helpful and informative 
and the best source for instruction.

I recently completed a webmaster certificate program at the University of 
St. Thomas here in Minneapolis, Minnesota where I was introduced to ASP, 
XML, VB Script and several other subjets related to web site design and 
development.  I started off with Beginning ASP 3.0 moved onto Beginning 
ASP Databases, Beginning XML, Beginning SQL Programming, Beginning 
ASP.Net with Visual Basic.Net and Beginning VB.Net.  I just recently 
ordered Beginning VB.Net Databases.  

I really like the way that the Beginning books introduce you to the topic 
and the examples that are used throughout the book in the "Try It Out" 
sections.  My only suggestion would be that at the end of each chapter 
there could be a more extensive Try It Out exercise that would encompass 
all of the concepts and techniques that were discussed in that chapter.  

When I first started my web training, I had purchased a couple of 
Microsoft Press books and found them very dull and uninspiring mainly 
because they contained so many mistakes, particularily in the examples 
and the exercises that the reader was supposed to complete.

In addition, I the support for your books is great.  I have found the 
discussion forums very helpful.
  

John - The best book I have ever read regarding ASP development 
was "Beginning Active Server Pages 2.0" and I've been looking for one as 
well written ever since. In fact, even after developing with ASP for over 
five years now I still refer back to it for a refresher on something I 
haven't done for a while.

Currently I'm about 1/2 thru "Beginning ASP.net with Visual Basic .Net". 
I find this to be an okay book, but about 1/3 of it has been already 
covered in your ASP Beginner series books before and I end up reading 
thru it hoping to pick up something new. I really didn't start learning 
much new until page 257, the chapter on "Introduction to Objects"

Up to page 257 this same material is pretty much covered in "Beginning 
Active Server Pages 2.0" and I really think the writers could have left 
the first 257 pages out. Naturally, this is just my opinion...